You may reprint, reproduce, and/or distribute this article so
long as you do not do so for profit or in connection with a commercial enterprise,
but you must use it in its entirety and make an honor donation to the ACA through
the PayPal button on the website. Permission to reprint, reproduce, or distribute
this article does not imply transfer of the author's copyright. Please let me
know if you are using it. sherryATsherob.com (substitute the @ symbol for the
word AT in the address)

While
everyone who breeds or buys dogs probably agrees she wants dogs with "good"
temperaments, exactly what that means is left to the imagination more often
than not. Each party assumes that he is talking about the same thing. Unfortunately,
huge discrepancies may lie between their concepts of what constitutes good temperament

For
instance, many years ago, a group of us attended a party given by the owner
of a champion male. He was outside when we arrived and remained there despite
inquiries about him. Finally, a few of the guests prevailed on our host and
were taken out to see the dog.

Several
told me that later that they wished they hadn't been so
insistent, Initially, the dog growled and snarled at them,
quieting down after a few minutes but remaining very alert
and wary. One visitor said, "One wrong move and you'd have
been fair game!"

The
owners later told me that they felt the dog's temperament
was very correct for the breed and were quite proud of
what they considered a properly protective nature. If he
growled at a few judges in the ring and couldn't be petted
by spectators, that was okay with them. They hadn't bought
a poodle.

Is
this good temperament? I don't think so, but it is certainly
an "eye-of-the-beholder" question. This discussion of temperament
was originally published in Akita Dog, the newsletter
of the Akita Club of America, and later in Akita World
magazine. It contains what I consider the essential
components of good temperament for an Akita, why I think
they are important, how to tell if you have problems, and
how to strengthen weaknesses.

This material
is garnered from my own experience, education, and opinion, and I welcome input
from you. Your suggestions, comments, or (perish the thought!) criticisms should
be directed to me. Email sherryATsherob.com,(substitute @ for AT) phone: 713
465-9729 (CST, USA, not between 8-10 p.m.)

The
priority of this list is rather loose. Some components
are equally important; others depend on an individual's
preferences. For instance, many people would rank protectiveness
much higher than I have, but almost everyone would agree
on the first few. However, I know from experiences like
the one just related that even they are open to challenge.

First
and foremost, every dog, not just an Akita, should be bite-inhibited.
He should be so reluctant to bite, that he does so only under
the direst of circumstances. Even then, he should bite only
once, and damage from the bite should be very minimal.

Second,
they should be accepting of authority, that is they should
be submissive. Between and within breeds, the degree of submissiveness
varies. The Akita's independent nature may well modify its
willingness to cooperate.

Did
I actually put loyalty last? I don't believe it either
because it is the essence of Akita character.

INHERITANCE
OF BEHAVIOR

Research on all sorts of animals, including humans, tells
us that the basic composition of our temperament is inherited.
It is constructed of building blocks we receive from both
parents. Although we have elements in common with each,
the material we receive is unique to us. The exception
to this, of course, is identical twins. Studies of twins
separated at birth have confirmed the inheritability of
temperament, just as studies of identical twins living
together show the powerful influence of environment on
these elements.

Similarities
between the former are eerie in their consistency. For
instance, one set of twins separated at birth were phobic
about water but wanted to swim. Independently, they arrived
at the same solution to their fear; they backed into the
water! Another pair lived in neighboring towns and were
both firemen. They both did woodworking in their spare
time and had built identical benches around trees in their
back yards.

On
the other hand, most of us have met identical twins living
together who work at differentiating themselves from each
other. Often, these pairs are like two sides of the same
coin with complementary personalities--one is extroverted,
the other shy; one likes science, the other arts; one is
bold, the other cautious.

Inheritance
gives each of us a set of building blocks that represent
our basic nature. Our experiences, interactions with others,
and environment determine how those blocks are arranged.
With almost the same components, one structure may have
a good foundation and great stability, while another is
likely to topple into disarray.

The
foundation of a dog's temperament is laid early and will
influence his behavior throughout his life. The structure
is dynamic and reacts to outside influences so long as
the animal is alive. We can reinforce strengths and shore
up weaknesses in the dog's nature. We must be careful not
to undermine strengths and encourage problems.

BITE
INHIBITION

Bite inhibition is a concept that, as a dog owner, you
know about, but you'll probably pay it little attention
unless and until your dog bites. Most dogs are inhibited
from biting. That's what makes them desirable companions.

A
few people seem not to mind living with an animal that
might inflict serious injury on them. They buy lions, tigers,
wolves, and dogs that are likely to bite, often and hard.
They probably also like bungee jumping and parachuting.
While these all have a large element of risk to the individual
who likes living on the edge, only the first presents a
hazard to others.

Inherited
Component

Bite
inhibition begins before birth, since it is partly inherited.
Unless you are a telepath, you have really no way of knowing
how quickly a dog might reach its flash point. It may have
a good reason for biting, but, again, unless you're telepathic,
you'll also never know when and why it is triggered to
bite.

When
a bite occurs, the family's first impulse is to find a
good reason for their dog's behavior. Most people love
their dogs deeply and feel hurt, guilty, defensive, and
protective when it transgresses. "He was protecting his
owner, was abused by the former owner, was startled. .
." The list of reasons is only limited by the owners' imaginations

You
will seldom be in a position to judge the accuracy of their
reasoning, and if you like the dog, your regard may shade
your opinion, too. Because the willingness of the dog to
bite a person has a genetic component, the safest option
in breeding is to select dogs that have never done so.Simply stated: Don't use any dog for breeding
if it has bitten a human.

Learning
Not to Bite

While
the height of the threshold at which a dog will bite may
be initially determined by inheritance, it can certainly
be raised or lowered by training. Puppies begin learning
it from each other and from their mother.

Learning the Limits:When puppies play with each other, they engage in
biting behavior. The strength with which they bite is tempered
by the response of their playmates. The hurt puppy protests
with a loud, high-pitched scream, and the offending puppy
lets go.

Likewise, nursing puppies can bite their mother once their
teeth come in. Mom reacts by moving away from the puppy,
pushing it away, or, in extreme cases, by growling at the
biter. She may also intervene in the puppies' play should
one puppy prove too aggressive to his siblings.In these ways, puppies learn to set limits on the force
they exert when biting.

Time To Grow Up:
Social interactions are very important for the developing
puppy not just for bite inhibition but for learning proper
doggy manners. The lessons they learn here will remain
with them all their lives which is why leaving the litter
together past the traditional six weeks is vital.

At
six weeks, puppies are just beginning to play with each
other, with toys, and with their mother and other dogs.
Taking them away too early can deprive them of valuable
lessons in life.

What Does This Mean To You As the Breeder ?
You and the rest of your household should jump right in with the rest of the
puppies, teaching them that humans are very delicate beings. You will be bitten
because that's how puppies test their world. As soon as a puppy mouths you,
even if he does not bite hard, you should mimic his littermates and give a high-pitched
yell. The puppy should immediately let go and will probably lick a couple of
times. Give him a warm "thank you," and wait for the next time. If he doesn't
let go scream higher and louder.

Very
young puppies will continue to bite, but the bites should
get progressively softer until they disappear altogether.
Extend your indications of discomfort to bites on your
clothing as well. If you walk among the puppies in a long
night-gown, scream when they bite the edges.

This
technique is highly effective and will work with young
dogs even more quickly than it does with puppies. All children
should be taught to deal with nipping puppies and young
dogs this way since they rarely have the social standing
to correct the dog by indicating their disapproval.

Soft
Mouths

Many
Akitas have soft mouths, probably from crosses to native
dogs that were retrievers. Their bites may be more like
nuzzles and may never cause you pain. As adults, soft-mouthed
dogs may have the same toys for years. They may never cause
problems to your furniture or shoes. Don't be fooled, though.
They can still inflict serious damage on people or other
dogs, because when they want to bite hard, they can.

Because their
bites don't hurt much, soft-mouthed dogs in a mixed litter will be the least
likely to truly learn bite inhibition. When you are working with a litter,
therefore, it's very important to teach all the puppies not to bite, even the
ones that hardly touch you. Otherwise, the dogs when they do bite are
likely to bite as hard as they can because they never learned to temper their
bites.

Hard-mouthed
dogs have a slightly different jaw structure, so few Akitas
have the same bite strength as a German Shepherd or Rottweiler.
If your face is being bitten, however, this distinction
will be of little concern to you. All bites hurt.

Is
Bite Inhibition Important?

The owner of the dog may be faced with huge legal fees and damage awards to
the victim. Most of these suits are covered by homeowners insurance. However,
the unfortunate owner may find himself out of a policy and unable to secure
a new insurer so long as the dog is present.

The
impact of a dog bite extends far beyond its effect on the
people involved, which can be devastating by itself. Very
few people actually die as a result of dog bites, but the
physical damage can be horribly disfiguring. Medical treatment
can range from simple cleaning to multiple surgeries. Even
worse, the bond between dogs and humans is based in part
on trust, and part of that is eroded once you are bitten.
If the victim is a bystander and not a dog owner, he is
likely to be lost forever to any relationship with dogs
and may become hostile to them. Hostility coupled with
activism can sound the death knell of a breed. Does
this sound extreme to you? If so, you need to learn
more about the animal rights activists and their effect
on animal welfare.

Strengthening
Bite Inhibition

You can strengthen
bite inhibition throughout the dog's life. Not letting him bite you or your
clothing is the first and most important step in doing this. If you currently
roughhouse by offering your arm as a target, switch to a lambs wool or rawhide
toy, a towel, or a ball. Throw it or drag it for him and then let him play with
it. You can pick it up (few Akitas will actually bring it back, so don't be
disappointed when your dog proves to be a "getter" but not a "returner") and
throw or drag it along the ground. Any time the dog tries to play-bite at you,
switch him over immediately to one of these toys.

If your dog has
a firmly entrenched habit, yelping may not work. As an alternative, you
may firmly take your dog's muzzle off your arm or clothes if he puts his mouth
on you. Hold his mouth shut, but don't try to hurt him, and with a very low,
growly voice, firmly tell him, "No." Don't strike the dog or shake him.
You may also be battling a dominance problem, which is covered in another section
of this discussion. Trading aggression for aggression may get you into an escalating
spiral that can cause the very problem you're trying to avoid!

Insist that your
children and any visitors not play chase, allowing the dog to pursue them. If
dogs could talk, they'd probably call this game "Chase the Prey." Given the
right set of stimuli--the right movements, the right sounds, the right smells--this
can become pursuit in deadly earnest.

When
you send your charges on to new home, you don't need to
scare your buyers to death, but you should make them aware
of appropriate behaviors. Give them couple of books. One
should be Turid Rugas's, On Talking With Dogs: Calming
Signals, and the other one like Alphabetizing Your
Dog or Carol Benjamin's Mother Knows Best. Ask
that they read these before they pick up their puppy. The
expense is negligible when you consider the tragedies it
can prevent

ACCEPT
AUTHORITY

Any
dog in its relationship with other dogs and with people
fits onto a scale of what is most often called "dominance
behavior." At the upper end is the dog that does what he
wants when he wants and enforces his will if he is thwarted--the
alpha, the most dominant dog. At the lower end is the dog
that seems to have no ego strength at all-the omega or
most submissive one.

Perhaps
this component of behavior is better viewed as acceptance
of authority. Many people want strong, brave Akitas and
are afraid that a submissive dog will be everyone's doormat.
In fact, the relationships formed between dogs themselves
and between dogs and humans are very complex and very fluid,
subject to change depending on circumstances. Also important
to understanding the significance of such measures is the
character of the breed itself. A dominant Rottweiler is
a very different dog from a dominant Papillon. A
submissive Akita is not the same thing as a submissive
Chihuahua.

The
Pack Incorporated

The
roots of dominance behavior are found in the dynamics of
the pack, the social unit into which canines organize themselves.
Observations of naturalists have given us great insight
into how the pack functions. These have been done in the
wild on wolves and coyotes and in academic settings, on
dogs.

They
show us an organization that in many ways is analogous
to one of our corporations. At the top is the pack leader,
the CEO. He is responsible for the welfare of the group
and charged with its protection. His perks are commensurate
with his responsibility. He gets first pick of the
food and gets as much as he wants. Everyone looks up to
him and curries his favor. Unless a corporate takeover
is in the works, no one challenges his authority in the
slightest way.

At
the bottom of the corporate ladder is the fellow who has
virtually no status, either personally or as a result of
his position He's the step-n-fetchit for anyone who gives
him an order. While the CEO may have a genuine liking for
this guy and may even share the table with him once in
a while, you can bet the rest of the group will have very
little social interaction with such a low-status individual.

In
fact, among the lower-status members is an element of contentment.
They know their place and keep it. Friction occurs most
frequently in the middle and upper management individuals.
Always trying to move up the ladder means exchanging places
with someone else, so they may well scrap and squabble.
Too serious a fight might draw the attention of the CEO,
however, so fights are more to intimidate than to damage.
If the head honcho does intervene, his discipline is quick,
sure, and accepted by the offending parties.

The
Pack At Home

When
dogs move in with humans, they interact with other animals
and with humans in much the same way as with a group of
other dogs. Their sense of where they belong in a hierarchy
is finely tuned. They have no trouble assessing their proper
position in the group and quickly move to occupy it.

Problems arise
when the position of the dog is at odds with the other members of the group.
For instance, suppose the dog lives with a couple. The husband is very strong
but the wife is a shy, non-assertive person. When the wife is home alone, the
dog is very protective of her. He remains positioned between her and any visitors
and maintains a watchful posture. One day, a coworker, who is a more dominant
person, comes over. He is leery of the dog, and the wife decides to put the
dog in another room. When she takes his collar and starts leading him out, the
dog growls at her. She lets go, makes apologies to the friend, and they both
leave the house.

Several weeks
later, a similar circumstance arises. The wife is thoroughly aggravated
with the dog and decides to make her point. She takes his collar and begins
leading him out of the room. When he growls at her, she yells at him. He jumps
up and bites her in the face.

An alternative
scenario, given the same relationships, is that the wife opens the door and
admits the friend. The dog stands between them and displays some hostile body
language that makes the friend wary. He asks her to leave if she can't put the
dog up. She moves around the dog, standing next to the visitor. As they are
walking out the door, the dog attacks the stranger.

Is this a vicious
dog, turning on its owner or engaging in an unprovoked attack? While it may
appear so, in the first case, the dog is carrying out what it perceives as its
responsibilities as an assistant pack leader. When the husband is gone, that
mantle falls upon the dog, and nothing the people have done makes the dog think
otherwise. He does not approve of the wife's decision to take him out of the
room, since he will then be unable to protect her from what he considers a threat,
so he tells her he does not approve of her actions by growling. Her acceptance
of his authority confirms his judgment. When she leaves with the stranger, however,
his authority is defied and he is worried about her safety.

The next time
she tries to take him out, several factors come into play. He knows she can
circumvent him because she did it last time and he is worried about her. She
is his responsibility. He growls at her, but she does not let go. This is a
challenge to his authority. His subsequent bite is discipline delivered by a
higher status individual to a lower-status one who is transgressing. These bites
are almost always delivered to the face because that is how a disciplinary bite
is delivered between dogs.

With another couple,
the husband is a mild personality and the wife is more assertive, Both are showing
the dog; however, when the husband shows him, the dog often growls at the judge.
He never does this with the wife.

Again, the dog
is acting as a protector of a lower-status member of his pack. His inclination
to do so is reinforced by the husband's body language. He leans down next to
the dog and frequently puts his head level with the dog's in a gesture of what
he thinks is affection, but what the dog perceives as submission. Because he
knows the dog is likely to growl the man has become very anxious in the ring.
The poor dog senses this anxiety and incorrectly interprets the approach of
the stranger as the cause, thus reinforcing his decision to warn this person
away.

Curing these problems
can be relatively simple. In the latter case, the husband developed a more assertive
posture with the dog after reading a book about dominance behavior. He quit
bending over, never kissed the dog again, and corrected him firmly when the
dog growled. In short, he moved up the social ladder to a position above the
dog, so the dog was no longer obliged to protect him.

In the former
case, the dog and the wife went through several obedience classes where she
firmly established control over the dog. They developed a routine for meeting
and dealing with visitors and strangers. Instead of regarding the dog as her
husband's major inconvenience, she has developed a deep rapport with him. They
love and respect each other.

A more serious
case involved some particularly peculiar behavior of the family pet around one
of the middle children, a nine-year old boy. While the child sat on the floor
watching tv, the dog brought his chew-toy over and dropped it near the child.
Then, he circled the child and watched sharply. When the child reached for the
toy, the dog growled and snatched it up. Correctly alarmed, the mother returned
the dog to the breeder.

Clearly,
like the middle management of the corporation, the dog
considered itself only slightly above this particular child
in the family hierarchy and perceived the child as a threat
to his position in the group. His opinions were probably
confirmed by some of the actions of the child, such as
sitting on the floor. His actions with the toy were a way
for him to enforce his higher status. Had the dog not been
removed, the situation would surely have escalated and
the child might have been severely bitten.

Evaluative
Tools

Fortunately,
a fairly reliable method of testing young dogs to determine
how willingly they accept authority has come out of all
the research on dog behavior. Originally developed for
guide dog organizations to aid in selection of promising
youngsters, these tests are valid for other applications
as well. Information about the PAT or PET (Puppy Aptitude
Test, Puppy Evaluation Tests) is available from many sources.
Gail Fisher and Wendy Volhard published a long article
in the March, 1979, and in the 1985 AKC Gazettes on administering
and interpreting the test. Mrs. Volhard also sells a pamphlet
and score sheet which you can obtain by writing her at:
RD 1, Box 518, Phoenix, NY 13135, (315) 593-6115.
It is also available on the internet at the Golden
Retrievers In Cyberspace WebSite (http://www.golden-retriever.com/pat1.html)

PATs
are usually done initially at around seven weeks. Puppies
are born with an immature brain which should be fully functional
at about this time. The first administration should be
indicative of the puppy's natural tendencies before his
environment has had much impact. Subsequent tests will
show changes because of outside influences. Tests are given
in an area new to the puppy and by a stranger.

The
first section of the test deals with social attraction
and dominance measures, and you can use these yourself
to select a puppy with an appropriate temperament for you
even if no testing has been done on the puppies you are
looking at.

First,
the puppy should be removed from his littermates and observed
in a room or area away from them. You want to see how the
puppy interacts with people, not with other dogs, and how
he interacts with you.

Quick
Puppy Evaluation

First, sit on
the floor and call him in a friendly voice. If he comes to you, notice whether
his tail is up and wagging or tucked. Does he come willingly or slowly and reluctantly?
Don't give up if the puppy wanders around exploring first or doesn't immediately
respond to you. If he doesn't come to you, go get him and talk gently to him
and pet him for a few seconds.

Next,
get up and walk around slowly, talking cheerfully to the
puppy. Watch what he does. If he follows you, see where
he positions himself and how he carries his tail.

These measures
of social attraction are followed by two measures of dominance and a third test
which indicates the puppy's reaction to them. Sit back down on the floor and
gently roll the puppy over on his back. Place your hand across his chest, then
restrain him and observe his reaction, After about 20 seconds, let the puppy
up. Bend your face down to his, gently stroke his back and talk to him. See
what he does.

Last,
pick the puppy up by placing your hands on either side
of his chest behind his legs. Interlace your fingers together
to provide support for his ribs and let him hang in the
air. Again, observe his reactions.

Responses
to the Test

Akitas are not
usually strongly attracted to strangers, so their behaviors on the social interaction
tests have a wide range. Some do not come at all and will not follow the tester.
This does not mean they are hopelessly anti-social. Such behavior reflects instead
a strongly independent nature.

More typical for
the breed in my experience is a puppy that first busies himself exploring the
area, looking around and sniffing. This is probably a displacement activity,
a face-saving advantage which gives him something to do while he makes up his
mind. After a few minutes of this, most will "suddenly" notice your calling
them or your walking around and they will come or begin following you

How they come
and what they do when they get there tells you something about the puppy. So
does how they follow. If the puppy approaches and/or follows with his tail down
and the ears held back slightly, you are witnessing a submissive response. The
average puppy approaches the tester with his tail up. Confidence in meeting
a stranger is indicated by his demeanor and by a wagging tail. The more assertive
puppies will paw at your hands or even your face and the most assertive will
bite at them also.

When they follow,
average puppies walk along beside you. As they move up the scale in assertiveness,
they will get between your feet, wandering purposely through them and may even
paw at your feet or bite at your shoes. Less social puppies may balk at the
come but warm up to the tester by the time he is walking about. Again, tail
down and/or ears back are the more submissive indicators.

Most of the Akita
puppies I have tested are mildly attracted socially. That is, they go to the
tester, either with tail up or down after some exploratory behavior. They may
greet the person and immediately wander off. They may follow for a few steps
and then drift off to explore. Little holds their interest strongly.

Many of the herding
breeds I've tested are put off by the strange surroundings. They seem, however,
positively thrilled to see a person, even though they don't know him, and bound
over to the tester. In contrast, we've had Akitas who have resolutely refused
to participate. None of them grew up to be intransigent monsters, but they were
very independent dogs. They were not eager to meet strangers but tolerated them.

Turned on their
back, most Akitas lie still, carefully looking away to avoid any hint of eye
contact. This is a submissive response and very acceptable. Others lie still
for a second, then struggle briefly before calming again. These might glance
quickly at your face, but as soon as they see you are looking at them, they
deliberately look away. This is a moderate response, indicating a slightly more
assertive dog but well within acceptable parameters.

Akita puppies
lifted in the air invariably just hang there. Their bodies are usually relaxed,
although they might be stiff. More assertive responses on these tests range
from flailing and struggling to whining, pawing, and biting. A very assertive
puppy may also make eye contact,

The
middle test tells you something about the puppy's acceptance
of correction and willingness to forgive. As you might
expect, many Akitas are less than enthusiastic about undergoing
unpleasant experiences and are not apt to easily forgive
the responsible agent. With no real attachment to the tester,
many Akita puppies just stalk off. Others remain with the
tester but stare off into space. A few of the more forgiving
will nuzzle the tester's hands. Assertive responses
include pawing or biting at the tester's face and hands.

Selecting
a Puppy

Choosing the right
puppy requires a frank assessment of not only your personality but that of the
others in your household, too. Pick a dog that suits the personality of the
least dominant person in your family. That too runs on a scale. The least dominant
person in my family is well able to handle a mildly dominant Akita. We are all
very assertive. My sister-in-law, however, is just able to hold her own with
my brother's old Akita, who is a medium-tough dog. Any harder temperament, and
she'd be the looser in a contest of wills.

A medium puppy
might be appropriate for the family with three brash youngsters but not for
the one with two girls who hide behind their mother through the whole interview.
An unforgiving puppy is not a good choice for the former; he may not be tolerant
of rough play that accidentally hurts. The latter is probably better off with
the most submissive female.

Breeders who avail
themselves of the PAT have a very useful tool for placing puppies appropriately.
If you are fortunate enough to find one, heed her advice. These tests have no
pass or fail, good dog or bad. They are helpful in assessing the native character
of a puppy and in suggesting where best to place him and how best to work with
him.

For instance,
all puppies will need some sort of correction and an unforgiving one must learn
to accept it in a good spirit. Owners of a less-forgiving puppy should be encouraged
to find a training class with positive training methods. Force-training is not
only ineffective with this type of dog but may well sour him on training altogether.

A very independent
puppy makes a poor candidate for a home where no one is at home during the day
or where he is left outside most of the time. These dogs are capable of getting
along on their own and may not bond well or at all to members of the family.
When one of them comes out and finds the dog digging in the flower bed and tries
to issue a correction, the result may be aggression on the part of the dog.
Even mild Akitas do not take well to corrections from strangers.

Of the Akitas
I have observed, the vast majority show medium to extreme submissiveness on
the PAT. They also show a strong tendency towards independence and some tendency
to resent unpleasantness. I personally tested a litter where all the dogs scored
in the medium to upper ranges on the entire temperament test. While this would
be great for a German Shepherd, my experiences since have made me very cautious
with such dogs. Two of this litter attacked people, the other was with a very
active, very assertive family who loved him dearly but kept him well in hand.
He was their beloved pet until his death at ten.

If
I had an Akita puppy that tested as very assertive (biting
hands, etc.), I would have serious reservations about him.
I certainly would repeat the test several times and would
be ultra careful about his placement, making sure that
the new owners were able to handle such a dog. Certainly,
I would be less likely to be concerned with a female that
showed dominant tendencies than a male. While some breeds
have little difference in temperament between sexes, I
don't believe this is true for Akitas. An adult male Akita
is just tougher than his female counterpart.

The
Dominant Dog

Life with a dominant
dog is recounted briefly in the Nov/Dec, 1986, Akita World centerfold by Leslie
Bair describing Ch Fukumoto's Ashibaya Kuma, CD, ROM. On his first day at their
house as a six-month old puppy, Leslie "awoke to find Kuma's imposing muzzle
about two inches from my face and two dark, unfathomable eyes staring at me.
We stayed that way for what seemed like an eternity, then he clicked his teeth
several times, turned around and trotted out of the room as if dismissing me."
She goes on to say that "no one ever really owned him." His place in the family
was undisputed, but he wielded his authority with great dignity.

Families can accommodate
to such a dog in two ways. The family can respect the dog's decisions or be
so much more dominant than he is that the dog recognizes their authority and
respects them. In between lies nothing but trouble.

On the other hand,
this dog is easier to accommodate than the dog that is jumped up to a dominant
position when he is truly not an alpha dog, an example of the Peter Principle
in action. The dog has reached its level of incompetence. In these
households, the dog have moved into a power vacuum which is created by his interpretation
of his human family's behavior.

Really
alpha dogs, like the CEO, don't have to keep reminding
everyone of their position. It's obvious. Beta
and delta dogs pushed into the alpha position often lack
the appropriate tools for maintaining their position, so
they resort to bullying. If recognized soon enough,
these dogs can be demoted back to a place in the pack where
they are more comfortable with their role. Left too
late, they can be so entrenched in their position, they
can't give it up easily.

Other
Signs

If
a PAT is not available, you should try to do your own testing
on the puppy to determine how dominant he is. Other clues
to his temperament can help you make your assessment. The
puppy that runs out first to greet visitors is the most
dominant puppy, not necessarily the friendliest. Put a
chew toy in the litter box and see which dogs end up with
it. Dominant dogs eat first and get their pick.

Puppies in a
pen will run up for attention. The more dominant puppy will step on the head
or push away the less dominant one. When they are very small and sleep in a
pile, the more dominant puppies are on the top.

When you were
a kid did you play "look-away", where you and a friend stared intensely at each
other, and the first to look away lost? With dogs, this is not a game. Eye-to-eye
contact is a challenge. If your puppy or dog locks eyes with you, he is issuing
one, and he'd better look away first or you're in trouble.

Again, dominance
is relative to the social structure in which the dog finds itself. The terror
of litter x may be the milquetoast of litter Y. In fact, one of the best ways
to deal with a bully puppy is to put him in with an older dog or more assertive
litter where he gets a quick lesson in manners and humility.

In your own family,
a dog that gets to big for his britches may need to be taken down a peg or two.
This can be accomplished with careful attention to dominance body language and
dominance behaviors by all the members of the family.

Again a little
attention to things from a dog's point of view will help you and your family
member understand how the dog interprets your behavior. You can read about
dog behavior and body language in a number of excellent books such as Mother
Knows Best, Alphabetizing Your Dog, Culture Clash, and The
Dog Who Loved To Much, but the best is Turid Rugas's On Talking With
Dogs: Calming Signals. These are available at dog shows from vendors,
can be ordered through your local bookstore, may be at your library or can be
ordered online from Dogwise.

One
caution I would add is that I wouldn't use an alpha roll
unless you have a very dominant puppy and then only until
you get a handle on him. You can provoke a dog into
a hostile response doing this, and with an adult Akita,
you can both end up in dire straits! Whenever you
set out to make a point with a dog, when you decide this
is it, you have to make sure you've picked a battle you
can win. Otherwise, you have to find another way
to deal with the dog. Fortunately many approaches
are available to solve problems and the best are usually
the ones that are the least confrontational.

LIKES
CHILDREN

Akita lore tells
us that the dogs acted as babysitters while the mothers worked in the fields,
Do you believe this? I didn't until I got the dog I'll call Babe. At eight weeks,
she left her breeder who did have small children and spent the next two years
in a childless environment. I picked her up at a show. At a rest area on the
way home, she was squatting taking care of her business as I looked out at the
park, when a toddler seized her from behind. Hugging her, he put his head up
against her spine. I was so alarmed, I was frozen to my spot and could only
watch as she gently turned her head and gave him a big lick. Lucky me and lucky
child!

Later
on another trip, I walked by a statue of a man and child
sitting on a park bench. The sun was behind them, so they
appeared in silhouette to me and were so lifelike, I thought
they were real. So did Babe. She trotted right up to the
child and stood there wagging her tail. Then she did a
double-take and sniffed the child statue, sniffed the adult,
then tried another wag. When this didn't make them move,
she gave up and walked off.

After
these experiences, I started watching Akitas around small
children, especially at shows. My observations convinced
me that in its finest expression, Akita temperament should
include a natural affinity for children. Retrievers like
balls and sticks, pointers will freeze when shown a bird
wing, and Akitas should be attracted to children.

I've
seen many Akitas change their whole demeanor in the presence
of a child. They wear an ingratiating, very non-threatening
expression and may well try to accompany the child if it
wanders away. This attraction is very different from the
protectiveness of guarding and herding dogs. It is a genuine
liking for our small folk even if they are strangers and
can occur with dogs that are none too fond of the large
ones. It also seems independent of the dog's exposure to
children, although in adult dogs unfamiliar with them it
may not appear instantly.

Liking
children is very important in our breed because when Akitas
do bite, the victim is quite likely to be a child.
Also, because of the size of the dog, if a child is bitten,
the damage is likely to be severe. Akitas, especially males,
are very aware of status and, in addition, are rather independent
in nature. Dogs with a special regard for children are
less likely to see them as threats and more likely to tolerate
from them what they will not tolerate from an adult.

Again,
I am reminded of the centerfold on Ashibaya Kuma. Leslie
Bair says, "[M]y daughter, Heidi, was four...when she walked
across the living room past the slumbering Kuma. His tranquility
disturbed, Kuma growled at the source of the irritation.
An equally independent and unafraid female toddler walked
up ... reached over grabbing this powerful head in her
tiny hands and before I could move, lifting the head and
slamming it down on the floor, and saying `shut up.'
I was frozen ..Kuma, though not in the least harmed, was
stunned, and made a visibly conscious decision. Mutual
respect was established and each went their own way."

In
the same vein, when my younger daughter was about ten,
I asked her to put our three-year old male in his run while
I talked with some people interested in Akitas. The wife
had just asked me how the breed was with children when
I noticed Meredith and Bart were having a "meeting of the
minds!" Not wanting to go back to his run, Bart had planted
his 120 pounds into a sit and was steadfastly resisting
the tugs of his 60-pound mistress.

Meredith
picked up a metal food pan which happened to be close at
hand and whacked him on the side of his head with it. "Come
on, Bart," she demanded. He looked at her with an appraising
glance, then, literally shrugged his shoulders and followed
her off to my complete surprise. While he is a rather easy-going
dog, I honestly don't know if he would have tolerated this
treatment from my husband, for instance, who has little
if anything to do with the dogs.

Like retrieving,
I believe this is an inherited component of temperament. I feel so strongly
about this that I will not breed any Akita that does not like children. I also
try to ensure it is a component of any breeding partners I select. If you don't
have children, you may not feel so strongly about this. However, you should
at least try to never double up on dogs that do not like them. You may have
none, but puppies that you sell may well be around children all of their lives
even if your dogs are not

ACCEPT
STRANGERS

If
an Akita bites, its next most likely target after a child is a visitor to the
house. He may even be someone who has come to your home frequently. To lessen
this possibility, a valuable part of the dog's temperament is the ability to
accept the presence of a non-threatening stranger whether he is neutral or friendly.

Ian
Dunbar makes a particularly cogent observation about Oriental
breeds, especially Japanese ones. He says the most
stable dogs can be unreliable around strangers because
the culture in which they were bred far longer than they
have been here does not select for that trait.

When
asked why, he pointed out that privacy there is at a premium
and most homes are small by our standards. So, in Oriental
countries little if any entertaining is done at a person's
home. Instead, social activities occur at communal
baths, restaurants, hotels, clubs, parks, etc. Only intimate
friends and family are invited home.

As
a result, dogs that do not like strangers may never be
weeded out of the gene pool. Further, in guard-type breeds,
distrust may be encouraged, since any stranger at the house
would be a subject for alarm. Just as the herding instinct
may or may not be present in city dogs, Oriental dogs such
as the Akita may have a profound distrust and dislike of
strangers that is never identified because it is never
tested.

Changing
Temperament

With Akitas, this tendency to be wary of strangers is something
that needs to be selected away from in breeding and trained
away from throughout the dog's life. Unfortunately, if you
don't realize it exists, it's hard to do either. And, yes,
doing so will change the character of the breed from its
original state. I think it's ironic that those who quibble
the most about attempts to make the breed's temperament more
socially acceptable see nothing wrong with the drastic changes
in structure and type accomplished over the last two decades.

Acceptable
Behavior

Please
don't think I'm advocating a temperament incompatible with
the character of the breed. We are not raising Poodles
or Golden Retrievers, and if we wanted that type of dog,
we certainly wouldn't be in Akitas! However, when a visitor
comes to your house, gets in your car, come up to you when
you're in your yard, or is talking to you at a dog show,
your Akita at least should be neutral. He should show no
sign of anxiety or hostility toward this person. He should
be tolerant of the stranger's presence.

Many
Akitas totally ignore strangers, and that is a perfectly
acceptable response. If the person is particularly "doggy-acceptable,"
you may find your dog making a few overtures, especially
if you're at a show and the stranger has ever had liver
in his pocket. This breed, though, likes to make the first
move, and you may find the friendliest dogs seem uncomfortable
with someone who forces attention on them. That is not
a cause for hostility, however, and your dog should accept
this attention even if it is not with enthusiasm.

This
reserved demeanor is part of the breed's innate dignity.
I'm still waiting for a few of my bitches to develop this!
At ten, Mikki remains a terrible clown who will do absolutely
anything for a cookie. You may find you have a few of these,
too, and their temperament is just as much an Akita's as
her cousin's. He gazes off into the distance when strangers
pet him as if no one is there. If they disappeared into
a poof of smoke, he wouldn't notice or care about their
absence. He really only cares about his family and a few
of our friends, but he tolerates strangers.

Problem
Areas

You
may see problems with your dogs or puppies you place depending
on how they are raised and trained. Certainly, the worst-case
scenario is a dog that is left outside all the time in a
house with little social activity and that is rarely taken
anywhere else. These dogs can be time bombs. The best
way to avoid tragedies is to make sure you sell puppies only
to homes where they will be kept inside.
I also require contractually that puppies be taken to training
classes . To encourage this, I help buyers locate
classes and provide information about them and rebate $50
when they bring me a certificate that says they graduated
from a class. First this gives the owners some handle
on the dog when he is still at a size that is easy to work
with. Secondly, the dog gets exposure early on to strangers
who are friendly and to other dogs. If at all possible,
I strongly recommend classes that use clicker training and
if they are not available, classes that use positive training
methods (usually food).

Stranger
Children

Another inclination
that is not uncommon in Akitas is a distrust and even dislike of non-family
children. The most distressing thing about these dogs is that frequently the
are devoted family pets who adore their own children and will tolerate anything
from them. They may be tolerant or even friendly to adult strangers, but
visiting children are at risk.

Until he does
something overt, identifying these dogs may be difficult for inexperienced owners
since the beginning signs of hostility are often very subtle. Even more unfortunate,
because the dog is so good with his own children, the owners tend to justify
the first obvious signs of trouble by blaming the child or extraneous circumstances.

Therefore, when
I sell puppies I tell buyers in written material and reinforce it verbally that
no children, especially toddlers, should ever be left unsupervised with any
dog. To do so is to bet with a child's life as the stake. Even the most stable
dogs can put two and two together and get five. What happens, I ask them, when
your son's best friend picks up a toy and bashes your son in the head with it.
Don't you think your dog will see this is an attack on his child? What do you
think he's going to do?

A
dog that does not like strange children might not need
even this much provocation. My first encounter with this
is an excellent example. Since it happened, I've heard
the same song, different verse, more times than I can count
which is what leads me to believe this is an inherited
component of temperament.

This
family had two dog-loving boys and an indoor-outdoor Akita
they had had from puppyhood. The mother was firm but non-assertive
and had had dogs all her life. They did not go to a training
class. The dog was wonderful with her children. When he
was almost a year old, she called me and told me he was
growling at one of her younger son's friends. I asked her
if he bothered any other children, and she said, "No, only
this boy. He is partially deaf and speaks differently from
the other children." Of course, it wasn't the dog!

I told her the
dog's behavior posed a significant risk to this child. I asked her to return
the dog to me, offering her a replacement from an upcoming litter. She refused
because they all loved the dog. He was crate-trained, and at my urging, she
agreed to keep the dog crated whenever visiting children were over at the house.
I made several follow-up calls about the dog, still asking them to return him,
getting a refusal and an assurance that the dog was crated.

Well, children
just aren't always able to remember what is vitally important to adults. One
day, her son took his friend out in the back yard without telling the mother
and without putting up the dog. The visitor bent over to pick up a toy on the
patio. Unfortunately, it was next to the dog's food bowl. He attacked. Hearing
the screams, the mother rushed out and yelled at the dog, who immediately let
go.

Because
the dog attacked the back of the child's skull rather than
his face and let go when commanded, the physical damage
required only stitches in the emergency room. The scars
are hidden by the child's hair. He is now terrified of
all dogs. The mother, who is not afraid of Akitas herself,
becomes almost phobic when children are around them. She
told me she is sure the child would be dead if she had
not been right in the next room.

They
still refused to have the dog euthanized. Instead, they
placed it with an out-of-town friend. I talked to this
man several times and finally agreed that the dog had a
chance with him. Despite my misgivings, the placement has
worked out well. At ten years of age, the dog is now nearing
the end of his life.

Dealing
With Problems

I
don't know what I could have done differently once the
dog was out of my hands. My mistake was in selling a male
to this family in the first place, and I no longer sell
them to people who have not had at least Northern dogs
before unless they come over and just bowl me over with
family assertiveness. The incident sent me to several seminars
on aggression and to a number of books.

Now
I would insist that the dog go to a training class, and
that the less-assertive mother be the one to train him.
Instead of relying on isolation to protect visitors from
the dog, which is doomed to failure in the most compulsive
of homes, I should have encouraged a course of desensitization
and probably some sort of behavior consultation with a
trainer. Intervention with a young dog that has not become
so distressed that he attacks might have changed the course
of events.

Dogs have a threshold of tolerance. Its height is determined
first by their inherited temperament, which differs among
breeds and within a breed among its individuals, and secondly
by their degree of socialization to strangers in and out
of the home. Not only does the dog need to get out and
see people, people need to come to the dog's house and
see him.

Of
course, you normally don't invite people over for your
dog's benefit, but if you own an Akita you should make
a point of it. Your dog may be less than enthusiastic about
visitors. Don't worry unless he shows signs, even subtle
ones, of hostility. This may include: looking the visitor
in the eye; sitting or standing (worse) between the two
of you; anxious looks at the visitor accompanied by whines;
and/or pacing.

I
even have a few that make monkey-like noises and blow through
their lips like horses. This is their equivalent to a growl
and is a warning to me that they are very suspicious and
distrustful of the stranger. Of course, sometimes these
actions are justified, and I am not in any way suggesting
that you should not heed the warnings of a guard dog doing
his job.

If
the visitor on the porch is pitching magazines and you've
never laid eyes on him before, you'd be smart to shut the
door and keep your dog around. On the other hand, if it's
your next-door neighbor or a friend from work--someone
you know, someone who is safe in your judgment--your dog
is out of line.

Desensitization

Adults:
A dog that is obviously hostile should be leashed and put
on a down stay next to you. If he is so suspicious
you cannot get him into a down, then put him in a sit stay.
If he breaks the stay, correct him and put him back in it.
Otherwise, ignore him and continue your conversation with
your friend. Both reinforce your own dominance, although
the sit less so, and will eventually show him your friend
is no threat. Giving him no attention keeps you from inadvertently
reinforcing one of his hostile responses. Just like children,
dogs can and will do things for your attention even if the
attention they receive is negative.

Never
try to reassure a fearful or distrustful dog by petting him and telling him,
"It's okay." First, it's not okay and secondly, you're not allaying his anxiety,
you're rewarding it and, thus, encouraging it

My
veterinarian gave me a great piece of advice about dealing
with anxious, fearful, or angry dogs. Physiologically,
the dog's activated state is maintained by the release
of adrenaline. Since the adrenals can produce only so much
of it, eventually, the dog's hyper-attentive state will
wear off. The more agitated the dog is, the more quickly
this will happen; the calmer, the less so.

While
you and your visitor are talking, observe your dog's behavior.
He will eventually have to relax, which will be evident
from his posture and demeanor. When you see this, you can
acknowledge his good behavior with some attention and a
treat, so long as he remains on the down or sit-stay. If
he gets so bored he goes to sleep-great, you've made a
giant step forward!

Take
all this in small steps and realize you may have some set-backs.
When your dog is comfortable with visitors that sit and
talk, have them stand up and walk about. Reinforce the
dog's down-stay and ignore any signs of suspicion or wariness
on the dog's part. Eventually, the visitors can give him
treats for good behavior. Perhaps you can teach him to
shake hands for a treat to break the ice. All sorts of
techniques can defuse the dog's suspicions.

Children:
If your problem is with children, you will have to stand
or sit with the dog while your child and a visitor play
quietly. Over time, the dog will become more comfortable
in the children's presence. Then, their play can become
more active. The trick here, as with adults, is to
let the dog get control of himself, learn that the situation
is not dangerous, and develop appropriate responses that
get everyone's approval.

Desensitization
should be reinforced repeatedly and done with many different
children. The dog should still not be left alone with them,
but if someone forgets, which will inevitably happen, the
children and the dog won't have to pay for the oversight.

In summary: If you have a dog that has a behavior problem,
you not only have to correct the problem, you have to give
him a socially acceptable alternative to that behavior.
He doesn't like children, he has to learn to leave them
alone; he doesn't like visitors in the house; he has to
learn to accept them.

You
have to learn how to recognize the initial indicators of
problems and instead of making excuses for them, you've
got to move quickly to stop them. You have to lead your
dog on a path that makes him an acceptable companion and
pet.

Breeders
must learn not to accept the owner's comments at face value.
Ask specific questions about the dog and his behavior so
that you can identify any problems that might be developing.
You'll have to listen carefully to the replies and be ready
to offer constructive advice about handling problems

Breeding

When
the dog in question is a breeding prospect, you will have
to evaluate the strength of the problem and try to identify
its source. In the above case, we looked at the behavior
of our dogs and decided the problem lay with a common ancestor.
Almost all the males and some of the bitches with her behind
them had some oddity of behavior, although it was by no
means the same from dog to dog.

Two
dogs, for instance, disliked anything with wheels. No,
they had not been run over as puppies. In fact, they had
only the one bitch in common in their pedigrees; they just
had the same phobia. Some males didn't like children; others
didn't like strange adults. We ultimately abandoned this
line completely in favor of ones that produced more stable
temperament.

In fairness, this
action wasn't all that difficult since none of these dogs were big winners,
and in accordance with Murphy's law, the very best ones in terms of conformation
had some of the weirdest behaviors. Breeding is after all a balancing act, so
had we been unable or unwilling to sacrifice breeding these dogs, we would have
looked at lines very strong in temperament and bred to something line- or inbred
on it. Then, to continue, we would have used only the dogs that showed improved
temperaments.

CONFIDENC

Some dogs are
born with confidence. They accept new surroundings, people, and situations with
aplomb and react, if not positively to change, at least without anxiety. Unfortunately,
bold and fearless do not describe most Akitas. As puppies, they are very careful
and quite cautious. Few I've seen are ever reckless. Akitas generally look before
they leap.

I think of this
breed as being born forty and then getting older. Except when hunting or fighting
where they become relentless and totally focused on their task, they are rarely
risk-takers. They seem stodgy and resistant to change, a tendency that can cement
itself in the older dog. Anything that tells them their caution is justified
reinforces the reaction. Consequently, unsocialized, unexposed dogs frequently
are anxious when put in unfamiliar circumstances. The dog's anxiety level is
proportionate to the number of strange things in the environment and their magnitude.
In the worst case, the dog may have a panic attack.

Building confidence
is very important to those of use who are showing and should be important to
pet owners as well. A self-assured dog can go to the veterinarian, stay
at the boarding kennel, accompany the family on a cam pout and even pack some
of their equipment, go to dog shows, and compete in obedience trials. His poise
in the face of new situations is based in part on inherited traits and in part
on the ability to handle stress.

Managing
Stress

Puppies encounter
stress and learn to deal with it from the moment they are born. To enhance this
ability, puppies must encounter manageable stress and must deal with it on their
own. From the outset, you should pick up each puppy and handle it. At first,
this will be when you weigh them after birth. In addition to putting them
on the scale, you should hold the puppy, stroke it, and talk to it. They cannot
hear you, but they can feel the vibrations from your speech. Individual handling
should increase in amount and duration as the puppy grows. Walk about the house
with it. Different rooms have different smells, temperatures, and sounds.

This should continue
when the puppies' eyes and ears are open. Individually, each can be put on the
floor and allowed to walk about and explore outside the litter box and without
the security of mom and siblings. You will have to monitor the puppy's reactions.
He can easily get into trouble. He can be mildly fearful but should be able
to allay those fears in a short time. Any stressful situation he encounters
should be mild enough for him to overcome.

In
so doing, the dog is learning not only to handle the particular
situation he encounters, he is learning to learn. That
is, he is developing a set of mental tools that allow him
to evaluate and react suitably to new situations. The more
successful he is at this, the more confident he will become.

To
help this process along, the puppy needs to gain experience.
He must be taken out into a world larger than his whelping
box. As he grows, this world should expand from the back
yard to the front, then to the neighborhood, then to training
classes, shows, and other areas where large numbers of
dogs and/or people gather. Here, he will learn to take
cues from you and other humans and dogs.

The
world is full of many things frightening to youngsters
who lack the experience to evaluate whether something strange
presents a real threat. To determine whether fear and perhaps
flight are justified, the youngster will look to his mother,
his siblings, and to you.

Discouraging
Fear Responses

So,
what do you do when the dog gets into trouble? It can happen
anywhere. I've had puppies and young dogs go bananas over
a mailbox or garbage sack. One of the worst panic attacks
I've ever had was when one of my Shepherds encountered
a bronze statue in a neighbor's front yard. She walked
up and sniffed it, then freaked out.

Back
to my veterinarian's advice, abject terror can only last
for so long. An animal has only so much adrenaline, and
as the supply decreases, the panic does too. Until this
happens, reason is not the animal's strong point, but once
adrenaline is depleted, the animal calms considerably.
Your best course is to do nothing until the dog's flight
response begins to shut down. You can talk to the dog,
but make sure you are not sympathetic. The tone to strike
is as if someone has told you a mildly amusing joke. If
someone else is with you, you can both talk in a normal
tone until the dog calms down.

Throughout,
keep the dog as close to the problem as possible. In severe
panic attacks, you may have to back off, then reproach.
Tell the dog in a no-nonsense voice, "This is nothing to
be afraid of. Look," then touch the object yourself or
walk up to it. Let the dog see you're not afraid. Eventually,
the dog will approach it. Then you can praise him and tell
him he's very brave. As young dogs and puppies deal successfully
with fears, they will become generally less fearful. Each
time they conquer a problem, they gain confidence in their
abilities and in you.

Obedience
Training

Very
few Akitas are actually "spooky." Instead, they are cautious
and careful. When these characteristics are coupled with
a lack of confidence, the dog can become very unhappy when
he is in a strange situation. For these dogs, obedience training
is a godsend. Confident dogs can reach into their bag of
tricks and find a way to deal with the unusual. The structure
provided by obedience training gives the less confident dog
a prescribed method for handing stressful situations. As
he does so, his confidence in his abilities increases, and
he becomes less anxious.

TRAINABLE

Of course, to
accomplish all the foregoing tasks, an Akita must be trainable. Personally,
I think trainability is an innate characteristic of all dogs and that all dogs
are trainable. Puppy Aptitude Testing helps match people to dogs and dogs to
training methods, which is one reason I strongly advocate its use.

Some combinations
of people and dogs just do not work well together, such as a dominant dog with
a shy, timid person. Likewise, a very dominant person may overwhelm an omega
bitch. Occasionally, you may encounter the people who Ian Dunbar describes perfectly
as "dog dim." A short conversation will tell you that they haven't got a clue
as to why dogs do anything nor do they have a clue about how to get them to
do anything!

If
they are otherwise suitable, they can learn a lot provided
they will read or watch videos. Appropriate material, such
as a good training book or video, can provide a basis for
understanding their dog. It's a good idea for you to provide
this material for their review before they pick up their
puppy and for you to question them closely to make sure
they understood it. These owners will require a disproportionate
share of mentoring to stay on track. Just as some people
cannot learn a foreign language, a few of these people
will never have a clue about their dog's real personality.
Fortunately, dogs are very adaptable and better at understanding
people than we are at understanding them.

Training
Classes

When
we discuss training, I caution new owners that an Akita
is not going to sit at your feet with shining eyes that
beg you to tell him what to do. Compared to training a
Border Collie, training an Akita is an uphill climb. Does
that mean they are not trainable? Certainly not!

On the other hand,
finding a suitable training class and utilizing it successfully can be difficult
for a newcomer. As I mentioned earlier, my sales contract contains a clause
requiring the new owners to attend a training class with the dog. I encourage
them to attend puppy classes and give them information on trainers who are in
their area. To sweeten the pot, I rebate $50 of their purchase price when they
give me a copy of their graduation certificate. Although everyone doesn't graduate,
they all do attend class, so at least they have some foundation for working
with the dog.

If
you have some grounding in obedience training, another
approach is to offer classes yourself. For extra
incentive, you could rebate part of the class fee for graduation
with a puppy you bred. A trainer with whom you are on good
terms might discount her rates for your puppies in exchange
for referrals. However you manage it, the new owner should
leave your house with the clear understanding that his
puppy must be trained and the determination to do so.

Training
Akitas

Before I send
them off, though, I talk to the new buyers about training classes and discuss
a few problems they might
encounter because they have an Akita and not a Border Collie. After all, back
in the days when dogs actually did work for people, they performed different
jobs which required very different skills. I wouldn't ask my accountant to wire
my house nor would I go to a plumber for brain surgery.

Herding and gun
dogs are the telephone operators of the dog world. We think of them as "smart"
because they learn behaviors quickly and will repeat them endlessly and eagerly.
If you take a retriever duck hunting, you expect him to go after the last duck
just like he went after the first. What would a shepherd do if his helper suddenly
decided that running back and forth around the sheep was boring?

Although
these dogs are capable, indeed must be capable, of independent decisions, they
are not particularly "independent" dogs. They must be what shepherds describe
as "biddable;" that is, when the master gives a command, the dog should hasten
to obey it unless he has a compelling reason not to. In that case, sooner or
later, he will communicate it to the owner.

Looking at the
way an obedience trial championship is obtained, it's hardly a surprise that
most of the dogs achieving it are herders or gun dogs. Even breeds not classed
in these groups such as Papillons and Poodles have that background. Poodles
were originally retrievers and Papillons were bred down from spaniels.

Akitas are shown
in the working group, but where do they fit in the obedience picture in terms
of working traits? To determine this, you have to look at function. The forerunners
of the breed were used to hunt large game in the mountainous territory of Dewa
Province on the Japanese island of Honshu. Accompanied by a hunter, they located,
followed, and held or tackled bear, elk, and boar--activities which make them
a hound.

Evaluating them
in terms of appearance, they obviously derive from "spitz" or "Northern Dog"
ancestry. These dogs have certain common traits: short, erect ears; mesocephalic
heads with oblique-set eyes; double coats; and tails that curl upwards in some
fashion. Representatives are found throughout the Arctic and northern
temperate areas and include the Pomeranian, Keeshond, American Eskimo, Samoyed,
Alaskan Malamute, Greenland Eskimo Dog, Siberian Husky, Norwegian Elkhound,
Norwegian Buhund, the Russian Laika, the Karelian Bear Dog, the Korean Jendo,
as well as all the native Japanese dogs. The working representatives of this
group have served as sled and pack dogs and hunters, and guards.

Obviously, the
Akita fits nicely with this group of dogs. Like the Elkhound and Karelian, he
is a hunting or hound/spitz type dog. Characteristics which suit them for their
jobs do not necessarily produce a stellar obedience performer. Hounds must be
flexible in their responses. After all, the prey sets the pace and determines
the course, and the hunter must be adaptable, ready to abandon one strategy
in favor of another.

In common with
the northern/hound types, he is physically tough with a high pain threshold
which was probably increased through selective breeding when he was used as
a fighting dog. From both his function as a hound and his heritage as a northern
dog, he has a core of independence that makes him unable to always do what you
want. This doesn't mean he won't do it, just that he might not.

Boredom:
How do these idiosyncrasies translate to training? Akitas, like many hounds,
have a very low tolerance for repetition. Once boredom sets in, and it
does so quickly, the dog looses interest, which means repetition is not the
key to successful training. The problem is that dogs learn by repetition, so
as a trainer, you have to balance the two by mixing a variety of exercises,
using short training times, and by keeping training a manageable challenge.

Therefore, in
class, when your Akita has done two great figure eights, instead of doing three
more, praise him and go on a couple of other exercises regardless of what the
rest of the class is doing. Of course, you need to discuss this with your trainer
first so she doesn't think you're being uncooperative.

Even as early
as seven weeks on the PAT, Akita puppies show little persistence. They often
attack the mop but abandon the attack after a few seconds, while Rottweiler
puppies in the same situation may have to be pulled off of it. The Akitas will
chase a ball that rolls in front of them but quickly loose interest in favor
of some other activity.

Variable behavior
: They also tend to vary their behavior rather than stereotyping it quickly.
When we test puppies, one of the things we do is put them on a box, stand in
front of them, and call them. In most herding and sporting breeds, done a second
time, the puppy tends to repeat what he did the first, even if it is falling
off the box backwards! Akita puppies may jump off towards the tester once and
to the side the second time. They might jump off once and refuse a second time;
jump off to the side and explore their surroundings the first time, and go right
to the tester the second.

One of the characteristics
we consider "smart" in a breed is the ability to consistently repeat a learned
behavior. Dogs that stereotype quickly are easy to train. A resistance to stereotypical
behavior does not make a dog dumb; it makes it more flexible. Akitas tend to
try more than one approach to any problem; just because they did it one way
first does not mean they will do it the same way next time.

For the obedience
trainer, these traits present a real challenge. You have to work harder to reinforce
correct responses and learn to shrug off those times when your dog adds a new
wrinkle.

Generalization:
Another problem is the Akita's slowness in generalizing from a specific learned
behavior. For instance, when you begin teaching the sit, your dog may be beside
you in the heel position. Then you teach him sit in front, then sit when he
is away from you. A German Shepherd will quickly learn to sit anywhere because
he generalizes well. He is able to make the connection that the same action
is called for regardless of where he is spatially. He will seem to understand
the concept of "sit," so to speak.

Akitas, on the
other hand, take much longer to go from the specific to the general. Instead
of expecting the dog to grasp the concept, you may have to break the exercise
into many component parts and teach each as a separate step and then, chain
them together. Some Akitas seem to have an "Aha!" experience and suddenly get
the point, while others never have a clue.

They may have
more trouble with some exercises than others. In discussing this subject with
a friend who is training an Akita in Open, she said she thought it applied to
the problem she had with teaching the quarter turn. In this exercise, the dog
and handler stand in a heel position with the dog sitting. The handler then
shifts her position, in place, a quarter turn to the left. The dog must get
up and reseat itself in the proper heel position.

All the class
Goldens learned to scoot into position without ever really getting up, while
Teresa was still trying to teach her dog that when Teresa moved, the dog had
to move too. Obviously, they need to try a different training method that takes
into account a slower ability to generalize.

Independence:
Sooner or later, everyone runs up against the Akita's independent steak. Hound
independence is expressed in passive resistance. The dog won't openly defy you,
he just won't cooperate. He may lag while heeling or move a foot on the stand.
If you're in the conformation ring, maybe he continually moves while you are
trying to set him up even though he's not unbalanced or swings his rear out
away from you when you stop. You can put a stop to this by introducing some
variety and perhaps some levity into your training routine. Sometimes, passive
resistance is the end result of boredom, so shorter training sessions will help.

Northern-dog
independence, however, runs more to outright defiance if
the dog is determined enough. Again, all of us have seen
this with Akitas. Has your dog ever slipped out the door
and headed off? He'll come home when he is ready or when
he's enticed by something more fun than cruising the neighborhood.

I
had one Akita who liked certain crates. He didn't just
escape from crates he didn't like, he demolished them,
just to make his point. I never could discern what characteristics
made an acceptable crate, so I have a varied collection
of broken ones, courtesy of Max. However, if he liked a
crate, he never made any attempt to leave it. One was so
flimsy, if he'd inhaled it would have broken apart, but
he stayed in it peaceful and content. This is Northern-dog
independence--my way or the highway!

Training
Methods

The next question
that arises is "what kind of training should I do?" When I first started, mumble,
mumble, years ago, everyone used the same basic methods for training. Over the
ensuing years, learning research has supplied additional tools for working with
dogs. Plenty of books on dog training are available, and most areas have more
than one type of training classes available. To a certain extent, how you train
will depend on the methodology of your trainer.

The method I first
learned has now garnered the rather unappealing name "force training or jerk
and pull (j/p)." Here, you put the dog on a lead and choke collar (we didn't
even have pinch collars when I started) and gave a command. If he did it, you
gave him lots of praise. If he didn't, you gave him a quick jerk with the leash
to get him to do whatever you were working on and as soon as he did it or was
in position, gave him lots of praise.

Back in the dark
ages, no one even considered training a dog until it was six months old. This,
of course, made the dog harder to train, both because he'd been learning on
his own all along and because he was that much bigger than a puppy. So, maybe
part of the "force" was because the dog was just harder to work with.

Finally, some
enlightened people, Dr. Ian Dunbar among them, advocated working with puppies.
The age to start formal training then halved to three months. This type of training
goes by the more attractive terms of "lure" or "food training." It is grounded
in the surety that puppies will do almost anything for a food treat or a favorite
toy.

Using natural
actions, the puppy is persuaded through use of the lure to perform. For instance,
if the lure is held slightly behind and above his head, he will have to look
up and sit to get it. Likewise, held between his feet, he will tend to go down
to get it. The lure, coupled with a command and praise teach the dog. When the
command and action are firmly associated, food rewards are decreased and eventually
ceased.

Bill Bobrow one
of our most successful obedience trainers cautions that older dogs may not work
all that well for food rewards unless they are encouraged to do so as puppies.
This applies also to baiting dogs in the conformation ring. He also points out
that food rewards may not be enough with Akitas and that sooner or later you
will have to resort to some type of physical correction.

His comments reminded
me of a young male I was working on the down-stay. As his hormones have kicked
in, he's become increasingly reluctant to down in the presence of adult males.
A few nights before at class, I had given him a down command along with one
of his favorite goodies. He started to go down, taking the treat in his mouth.
Then he stopped, pointedly looked at the adult male next to us, looked right
at me, spit out the food, and sat up. I got his message. There and then, I decided
it was time for a different training technique.

Much to my surprise,
I found an even newer technique which uses food too but couples it with what
psychologists call an event marker. The first people to introduce this
training method to the world of dogs came from dolphin training at marine exhibitions.
While they use whistles with the sea mammals, with dogs most use a clicker (those
toys we used to call "crickets").

The seminal book
for this training method is Don't Shoot the Dog by Karen Pry or. In it,
she discusses the basic principles governing what is now commonly referred to
as "click training (c/t)." While it shares many aspects of lure training, it
relies on the dog's figuring out what you want him to do rather than your forcing
him to do them. Thus, he becomes an active participant in his own training.
One of the reasons I think this method is so successful with Akitas is that
it challenges them--no boredom here! Because of this participation on his part,
the dog isn't resentful or sullen because you are making him do something.
Instead, he's figuring out what to do which is made easier for him because correct
behaviors are marked with a click at the instant it occurs. He keeps working
because he is given a reward which can be food, play, or verbal praise and a
pat.

Almost everything
you'd like to know about this training method can be found on the internet.
I've got several excellent sites linked on my web page. Vendors at most
shows carry video tapes and other equipment, and seminars are held all over
the country by Karen Pryor, Gary Wilkes and other excellent trainers.

Akita
trainers I've consulted and my own experiences lead me
to think that while clickers, food rewards and lure training
are effective tools when they work, expecting them alone
to carry you through a complete obedience course may be
unrealistic. Therefore, when you pick a trainer, look for
someone who is willing to combine methods. Above all, try
to find someone who understands that not all dogs have
the same temperaments, abilities, or tendencies, someone
who recognizes that one training technique may not work
all the time with every dog and who has more than one to
offer.

Unfortunately,
not every area has enough trainers for you to pick and
choose, in which case, you will have to get additional
help. Through the dog training books at your local library,
you have access to some of the finest trainers in the world
and a plethora of training methods. The internet offers
information on web pages as well as many e-mail lists dealing
with training. Don't ignore these resources. Don't forget
to talk to other Akita people who have trained their dogs
in obedience. They've already been down this road and can
offer you constructive advice.

Untrainable
Akitas?

With
humor, understanding, and persistence, you can train almost
any Akita in basic obedience. For every person who thinks
that Akitas are not trainable, I'd point to my house dog.
She has never had an obedience lesson, came to us at the
age of three from life in a kennel run, and moved seamlessly
into our household. My kids and I talked about this today
and we can think of three unacceptable things she's done
in all that time. She stole a steak off the counter--once
and she's run out the door twice.

Like
scores of other Akitas, her training has been so effortless,
that we can easily say, she's had none. She's trained herself
by observing our responses to her actions and carefully
fitting her behavior into an acceptable mode with little
or no formal instruction from us. Even though she has no
CD, she is a very trainable and well trained dog! I think
this is very typical of Akitas and one reason they are
so easy to live with in a house.

Fearful
Akitas

Although
Akitas are naturally careful and cautious, few fall into
the fearful category which may be the one exception to
trainability. Fearfulness may be the result of an inherited
temperament and/or severe and early abuse.

Very
fearful adults are very hard to deal with. To train them,
you must first gain their trust. They become dependent
on your judgment and rely on you for cues about their environment.
While they may be confident with you, with someone else
they may revert to their previous behavior until that person
also establishes a bond with the dog. A few dogs may extend
their trust to people generally, but most will not.

NOISE STABLE

A dog that is
not afraid of noise is more pleasant to own. To some extent, noise shyness is
an inherited characteristic. Steadiness to shot is of primary importance in
the temperament of gun and guard dog breeds. If you attend a Schutzhund or field
trial, you'll find the dogs impervious to the guns going off all around. They
are also fairly staunch in the face of all noise.

Historically,
I suppose Akitas have little reason to be unaffected by noise, and many seem
unsettled to some degree by loud noises. I had a female who hated the sound
of generators. Believe me, getting into a show site without passing a generator
can be difficult depending on the parking. If we walked by one, I might just
as well have turned around and gone home as take her in the ring. Somehow, she
seemed to think they were mobile and any minute, one would make an appearance.

Most dogs aren't
so neurotic, but you never know what will happen. We've all seen dogs react
poorly to loudspeaker announcements, falling chairs, or other unexpected sounds
at a show. Years ago, while the groups were going on at the dog show site on
one side of a river, the city set off fireworks on the other for some sort of
celebration. We spent hours trying to catch a Sheltie that had gotten
away from its handler. A multi-group winning dog, it was so traumatized by the
experience, it was never shown again.

Noise shyness
is a trait you can breed away from, although it is of considerably less importance
than many others. If you think you might have a problem, the time to start working
with your puppies is while they are in the whelping box. Make sure they are
in a noisy environment, although it should not be at such a level it makes them
unduly nervous.

Play a radio on
rap, hard rock, and talk stations. I have a satellite dish and one of the channels
we get has nothing but war movies. My last few litters listened to bombardments,
machine guns, and bombs every night.

I took two of
them out to a Schutzhund German Shepherd Specialty when they were six-months
old and was very pleased by their response to the guns fired off in the ring
right in front of us. The male, who was asleep, looked around, then curled back
up and went back to sleep. The female was unconcerned initially, but after about
ten shots, she turned around and looked at me for reassurance. I continued talking
to my friend and after a few seconds, my puppy began playing with her toy. Her
mother, on the other hand, would have bolted out of there at the first shot,
so I think early exposure has helped.

Desensitizing
puppies to noise is also important if you live in an area
with frequent thunderstorms. Since these never go away,
the dog's fear tends to escalate. In the worst cases, the
dogs engage in escape behavior which means destruction
of their confinement area. This may be a crate or your
windows and doors.

INDEPENDENCE

Everyone who has
Akitas knows that they are independent dogs. This is definitely an inherited
component of temperament and very strong in the breed. I don't think this
is something anyone breeds for. In some ways, Akita would be more appealing
if they were a little less independent, but it is so intrinsic to the breed,
it shapes many aspects of their behavior. Without it, we'd have a totally
different breed without the reserve and dignity so typical the adult.

I've been around
a lot of different dog breeds, but Akitas are one of the only ones I'm sure
could be depended on to survive without people, barring encounters with cars
about which they seem to have no sense. They are unlikely to do anything reckless
or daring; rather, they consider what they are doing and use their experiences
to evaluate their actions. In short, the Akita is a survivor, due in large part
to his capacity for independent action.

Therefore, leaving
the dog outside to fend for itself can make him a poor pet. Akitas need to be
around the people in the household to bond with them. Left to their own devices,
Akitas will make their own world and rules for living in it.

Mutual
respect is the key to working with Akitas. You must be
the alpha person, but even so, sooner or later, you'll
run up against their independent nature. Pick your battles
carefully. If it doesn't really matter, let the dog have
his way. He'll be easier to deal with later when something
needs to be done your way.

INHIBITED

Akitas are typically
inhibited as opposed to excitable, a set of inherited characteristics that mark
the dog's response to stress. His inhibited nature is responsible for the laid-back
attitude that makes the Akita a pleasure to have in the house.

It is obvious
in puppies as they work through the PAT. They tend to get calmer and less
responsive. Sometimes, inhibited puppies get so stressed out, they fall asleep.
With excitable breeds, puppies end up running about the room, jumping on the
tester, and sometimes, even barking and whining.

When you start
a new training exercise with your dog, whether it's heeling in obedience or
stacking for conformation, your dog will demonstrate signs of inhibition. He
may work slowly, show little animation, and/or seem very tired. He may yawn
repeatedly, which is a sign of stress.

In the worst cases,
the very inhibited dog demonstrates a sort of waxy catatonia. We had one one
a PAT that literally never moved she was so shut down. She grew up to
be a wonderful, calm, non-adventurous companion.

An excellent example
of normal inhibited behavior is the puppy at its first match. You can
position him easily and then he stays like a little statue without a lick of
training. From one show to the next, it becomes more like the other puppies,
moving about and demonstrating a puppy's typical short attention span.

As the dog gains
confidence through exposure, it is less stressed, so it is less inhibited. The
more puppies are exposed to manageable stress, the less inhibited their response
will be. So, don't get discouraged initially by your dog's response to new situations.
He will become more active and enthusiastic when he gets used to them. If you
make them more stressful by being disapproving of his hesitancy, you will only
make worse. Just go on positively, and your dog's performance will improve.

PROTECTIVE

Many people depend
on their Akitas for personal protection. Until very recently, I had both German
Shepherds and Akitas, and I have found many differences in how they respond
to strangers in the house and outside the yard. First, the Shepherds (and the
other guard-type dogs, such as Rottweilers and Dobermans) are much better area
guards, especially if the owner is in a situation where he needs or wants outsiders
to be aware that dogs are on the premises. Why? The other breeds bark more.
Like the old joke, that's the good and the bad news.

I love being able
to have dogs without offending my neighbors. All twelve of my dogs bark less
than the one dog that lives next door. For eleven years, two joggers came past
our house every morning, and for eleven years, my German Shepherd barked at
them while the Akitas just watched, a much more sensible response.

However, now that
I have only Akitas, our yardmen have no trouble coming in the backyard so long
as my children are not outside. The Shepherds wouldn't let anyone inside the
fence, no matter how many times a week they showed up. We have back-door garbage
pickup, which means the garbage men have to come inside the gates. Some of my
Akitas will allow them in and station themselves in front of the door, watching.
Of course, the Shepherds wouldn't let them in at all.

Do I think anyone
could harm my daughters with an Akita present? Definitely not! They are less
concerned with me and even less with my husband, probably because we are the
dominant people. Maybe they figure we can look out for ourselves most of the
time. I'm fairly confident that their attitude would change if they sensed we
were frightened or suspicious ourselves.

Guarding is a
primary duty of the European guard dogs commonly seen in Schutzhund work--Rottweilers,
Belgians, Shepherds, and Bouviers. The Akita's basic temperament, shaped for
different purposes, gives it a different approach to life. Protectiveness is
definitely there but takes a backseat to other facets of the dog's personality.

If
our Akita's bark in the night, we know they have a good
reason. They know people don't skulk around after dark.
On the other hand, if Akitas were great protection dogs,
they'd be working in police departments everywhere, and
some of us would be in Schutzhund trials. I remember an
interview with a policeman who trained his Akita for K-9
work. He said the dog was a good worker but not a breed
he would select again for that particular job because the
Akita was harder to train.

TOLERANT
OF OTHER DOGS

Low on the list,
but still there is tolerance of other dogs. To some extent, all northern dog
are scrappy. Akitas have the dubious distinction of being one of the only ones
actually used for dog-fighting. Undoubtedly, Japanese breeders selected for
the more aggressive dogs throughout the years the breed was used for fighting,
but I'm sure their choice to use the Akita in the first place had much to do
with their innate desire to scrap with other dogs. This tendency made them a
good choice for the sport of dog-fighting. Breeding programs over the year increased
this tendency and kept it in the breed.

Historical data
tell us that the native dogs of the Dewa area were also crossed with European
dogs to increase their size and, therefore, their fighting ability. These were
probably Great Danes (also known as Deutsche Dogges) which were brought to the
area by German mining engineers.

Was this version
of the Akita a ferocious pit dog? They certainly were pitted against similar
dogs. However, Tatsuo Kimura tells me that one of the reasons the Akita breeders
shifted directions early in this century was because of a fight between an Akita
fighting champion and a Tosa Fighting Dog, a breed resulting from crosses of
the Japanese native Tosa Inu with various European imports. Looking at them
today, I would guess the imports must have included at least the English Mastiff
and probably some other Molossan-type dogs. Anyway, the Akita barely escaped
with its life. Its fanciers realized that continuing to pit them with dogs like
the Tosa might be the end of the breed. With the rising tide of nationalism
in Japan, they began to value the Akita Inu as a native Japanese breed, for
itself rather than for what it could do in a dog fight. Instead of crosses
aimed at fighting ability, they began to look for hunting-type dogs to restore
the breed to its original type.

If you can enhance
a trait by selective breeding, of course, you can also minimize it. Certainly,
Akitas today seem less dog-aggressive generally than they were twenty years
ago. This alteration is due in part to selection for less aggressive dogs and
in part to better training techniques such as early socialization of puppies,
continued exposure of adult dogs to strange dogs, and obedience training of
young dogs.

I know several
people who keep same-sex Akitas together and others that have several mixed-sex
ones that run together with no trouble. Sometimes, a pack works because a dominant
dog keeps everyone in line, but maybe these Akitas are just that much less dog-aggressive.
I've never been daring enough to put my older bitches together, although I suspect
a few of them would get along. One, though, can run with any male but cannot
be put loose with a female without fighting. She's been dog-aggressive since
puppyhood, and I'm sure had she been put in a pack situation, she'd have inflicted
a lot of damage on other bitches.

Fence
Fighting

Putting dogs in
a situation where they can fence-fight builds up a lot of unresolved aggression.
It starts as a game and then escalates to serious dislike. To minimize this,
I have board fencing between my runs. It is covered on both sides with chain-link
to keep it from being eaten. The dogs really don't see each other, and rarely
ever bark at dogs on the other sides. Given a chance, though, they will fence-fight
through the gates or the outside chain-link.

Dogs that fence
fight can cause significant damage to each other. Worse if you have two
together, they can become so enraged that the fight with each other when they
can;t get to the dog on the other side of the fence.

Aggressive
To Other Dogs?

According to the
standard, an Akita may be aggressive towards other dogs; however, it doesn't
say that they have to be so. In today's litigious society, the consequences
of an attack that damages someone else's dog can be severe indeed. Also, many
people do not understandthat a dog that is aggressive towards another
dog is not necessarily aggressive to people. Looking at a snarling, bristling
Akita doesn't inspire a lot of confidence about the breed.

I've heard from
people who bought dogs as pets, listened to all that the breeder told them about
this less desirable aspect of Akita temperament and failed utterly to understand
what it really meant until their darling scooped up the neighbors peekapoo and
put it in the hospital with one bite. Fence fighting with the neighbor's
dog can result in an attack should your dog ever get into his yard or his into
yours! Hot wires, extra fencing, or just vigilance on your part will help
avoid this kind of disaster.

Mostly, your dog
has to be socialized to accept strange dogs at class, in the street, or wherever
you might go with him. For some dogs with strong tendencies toward dog aggression,
one class at 12 weeks won't be enough; you have to keep it up for most of his
life. These tendencies also may not appear until the dog goes through
puberty. Misbehavior here should be firmly corrected because the hormonal
surges your dog is undergoing will make him harder to deal with and can set
up bad habits that last a lifetime. Correctly managed, the dog will settle
down when his testosterone does.

If you want to
compete with an Akita, regardless of the venue, you must have a dog that can
be trusted around other dogs. A dog that can't be trusted to leave other animals
alone on neutral ground is a real liability. In obedience and agility, the dog
works off-leash, so he has to be reliable. At a dog show, he must negotiate
crowded aisles and stand close together in crowded rings.

The demands of
such activities have shaped our selection for less dog-aggression in our Akitas,
and I think this is perfectly acceptable and somewhat desirable. Nonetheless,
you should remember that the most benign Akita can conceive a sudden and violent
dislike for another Akita. In that case, you'll have to avoid that dog like
the plague because if your's has a chance, he'll get in a fight. That may be
only dog that ever inspires such antipathy, but both dogs will remember each
other and renew hostilities any time they can. It's part of what makes an Akita
an Akita!

LOYALTY

After I started
this series, I realized that I had left loyalty off my list of temperament components.
This is a hallmark of Akita character, and the only excuse I can offer for overlooking
it is that it so much an intrinsic part of Akita nature that we take it for
granted.

I don't think
I've ever been around an Akita didn't have it. Is it an inherited trait? Since
some breeds to not have a lot of personal loyalty to any one person or group,
I suspect it is, and it is vital that we keep it in the breed.

I think their
sense of loyalty makes Akitas accepting of all the household inhabitants, including
cats, kids, other adults, and livestock. It allows them to form firm friendships
with other people--your friends, trainers, handlers, neighbors--and to never
forget them. Akitas I raised and sold as puppies have greeted me enthusiastically
years later. Dogs that belong to friends I travel with greet me enthusiastically
every time I see them, even though months or even years may pass between meetings.
Akitas never forget a friend.

The
down side is that they never forget people the don't like
either. Once, my brother Steve had a picnic.
To keep him from being a pest, Scotty and Amy were in their
crates. Rusty, Steve's brother-in-law, set his plate
with two hot dogs on top of Scotty's crate and went off
to get something to drink. I guess Scotty thought
they were his, because when Rusty picked them up and ate
them, Scotty barked at him. Since then, Scotty has
never liked Rusty despite Rusty's overtures to redress
the wrong. Akitas aren't very forgiving either.

To
some extent, their sense of loyalty is the fount from which
other traits arise. Without it, Akitas would not be protective
of their friends. Given their sense of independence, the
Akita's working ability probably finds its roots in loyalty.
Can you imagine an Akita that is not loyal to its family
and friends? I can't; it is such a pervasive part of the
breed that we just accept its presence. Loosing it
would make a profoundly different dog.

CONCLUSION

I hope this series
on temperament has made everyone breeding Akitas think about what you want in
a dog and how to go about getting it through good breeding choices. Those of
you who are just owners or who are considering this breed should take note of
the areas where problems commonly occur.

This
doesn't mean that your dog will manifest these behaviors,
but it does mean that if he has problems, they are likely
to be in these areas. Please watch for signs that you might
be having trouble, because if you catch this at the beginning,
you'll probably be able to either change the dog's or your
behavior and stop a molehill from becoming a mountain.

I don't mind answering
questions when I have time. And I certainly welcome your observations. You
can at sherryATsherob.com (replace AT with @) or call (713/465-9729, CST, USA,
not between 8-10 p.m., please).